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Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, 04/02/2007 – "Last year, the industry generated a combined revenue of $2.1 billion. This year, we expect the revenue to reach $4 billion as large companies scale up their operations and a flood of SME-level operations join in to cater to foreign SMEs," said BPO Services Association Unlimited (BSA/U) Coordinator Candy Gagarin.
The SME sector is the backbone of the Philippine economy. It comprises about about 99.6% of all registered firms nationwide employs 69.9% of the labor force, and contributes 32% to the economy.
"The Department of Trade and Industry is encourging SMEs to enter the field. IT and IT-enabled services and ICT support services is one of the 11 identified as Preferred Activities under the Investments Priorities Plan. SMEs in the BPO sector are expected to grow exponentially as barriers to entry are lowered," she said.
The BPO Services Association Unlimited (BSA/U), (bsau.org) was formed in 2006 to complement the efforts of industry associations such as Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP, 2001) and Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA/P, 2004) that are geared for large joint-venture BPO companies serving the Fortune 500 companies in USA.
"As the number of BPO startups multiply, it has become an urgent matter ensure the continuing level of quality and customer service that has become the hallmark of the Philippine BPO industry. This is what our organization is addressing," she added. "We encourage our SME member-BPO providers to strive for higher quality by providing incentives, such as, exemption from membership fees if they have positive testimonials from clients. We also provide client leads to those whom we assess to be commendable. It is a continuous
process."
Philippines currently has about 10% of the market share with the bulk of BPO sevices being rendered by India. But India may no longer be the first choice according to one of the BSA/U founding members.
"We have an edge over India in terms of quality, productivity and turnover. These have become hallmarks of the Philippines BPO industry and we must make sure that we keep this edge. The key to that is quality - world-class quality - not just for large companies but for SMEs as well," said Red Paredes of Digital Visions, citing a study made by Kelly Services, Inc. based in Michigan. "US$11 billion by 2010 is achiveable," he added.
BSA/U members (bsau.org) include Call Centers, Contact Centers, Transcription, KPO, DPO, LPO, Application Development and Maintenance, Animation, Graphics and Web, Engineering and CAD Services throughout the Philippines, with no restriction on size and form of ownership.
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coordinator[.]bsau.org 
